Lots Of Mushrooms On The Trail To Jug End Ridge

The dogs and I were hiking up to Jug End Ridge and I had marveled at the great variety of beautiful mushrooms all along the trail. But when I saw several bright PURPLE mushrooms, I knew I'd seen the best of them all:

And right near by were these fluorescent, DayGlo orange beauties. The young ones look like typical toadstools, but the older ones were upturned like Marilyn Monroe's skirt as she stood over a subway grate:

And just so you won't think that all mushrooms are pretty, I photographed this ugly monster which looked to me as if an Ogre had pooped alongside the trail:

There were Mountain Laurels aplenty on both sides of the trail, though none of them grew to much height. At this point in the hike, Seamus still had lots of energy:

And the two "Silly Sisters" never run out of energy. Every waking moment is an opportunity for them to run, wrestle, play and get into trouble:

Small Sassafras trees grew all along the trail but there were no full size trees. In fact, I saw no Sassafras taller than about two feet. I finally decided that they must be able to flower and bear seed at a young age and in this harsh environment, only live a few years:

A very large white fringed mushroom with an orange center:

And an abundance of Coral Fungi, intricate little clumps of white loveliness:

I was becoming tired by this time and my toes were beginning to hurt. I might have turned back right then and there except that I could see blue sky off to our right and I could smell the sun's warmth heating the pine needles on the rocky ridge. I knew we were getting close:

And we passed by these orange mushrooms with sprinkles. We were getting close to our goal, so I kept hiking. I'll post more tomorrow: